


Tomatoes and love

by Windfighter



Series: Iron Man-bingo card 17 [6]
Category: Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Cooking Lessons, Domestic Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-09-06 00:55:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20282728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Windfighter/pseuds/Windfighter
Summary: Maria has one of her good days. She decides to make dinner for her family when her young son arrives. After some encouragement he helps her out, getting his first lesson in cooking.





	Tomatoes and love

**Author's Note:**

> For the Iron Man-bingo and the square "Learning to cook"
> 
> I honestly have no idea how normal people do tomato sauces so I just... made something up based on how my family does it. Hopefully it's tasty enough if someone wants to attempt it.

It was one of her good days. Maria wasn't happy, but she also wasn't feeling numb and weighted down. She listened to the birds chirping, watched the gardeners trim bushes and felt the sun warming her skin. She felt... alive. She heard Jarvis enter the kitchen and hurried inside.

”Don't worry about dinner today, Jarvis.”

”Madam?”

”Take the rest of the evening off, I insist.”

He looked ready to argue, but bowed and left. Maria looked through the refrigerator, the pantry and the freezer. They were well-stocked with the finest ingredients and she took out what she needed, rinsed the tomatoes, carrots, bell peppers and mushrooms and lined them up on the counter. Soft footsteps made her stop.

”Antonio, dear.”

She put a knife and cuttingboard on the counter as well. Anthony tilted his head, looked at her with soft, brown eyes. Warmth spread through Maria as she watched him, made her smile. He was her son, her perfect little angel with the deepest eyes that were always picking apart, understanding and loving the world around him. He glanced towards the stairs leading down to Howard's workshop before sauntering over to her instead.

”What are you making?”

She picked him up, sat him on the counter.

”Just a simple tomato sauce. Do you want to help?”

Anthony picked up one of the tomatoes and studied it. She let him, waited as he moved on to the other items as well. He nodded and she gave him another knife, aware that Howard had already taught him knife-safety down in the workshop. Anthony's knife was smaller than hers, more fit for his small hands. She brushed his hair from his forehead and kissed the top of his head and he beamed.

”I love you, bambino, you know that right?”

He nodded. She smiled at him before she grabbed a tomato and started cutting it. He watched her every move, copied it to the best of his abilities. She hummed gently as they worked, a song her own mother used to sing while working. Anthony's face softened up and she brushed her hand against his cheek before grabbing a few of the mushrooms.

”Mushrooms are cut in slices like this”, she showed him.

Anthony hesitated, then started cutting mushrooms as well. His slices turned a little thicker and more uneven than Maria's and his face fell again.

”You're doing great, Antonio.”

He beamed at the praise. Maria made a mental note to talk with Howard about giving their son more praise, but she could to that later. For the moment she focused on the task at hand, at her son. They diced the carrots and the bell peppers and gathered the vegetables on the cutting boared before moving to the stove.

”Do you want anything else in the sauce?”

Anthony shook his head. Maria filled one pot with water and put it on the stove. Anthony started the stove for her before climbing up on to the counter next to it. Maria put a sauce pan on the stove as well, turned the heat on and waited for the pan to get hot. Anthony talked while they waited, told her about the latest book he had finished. It was about airplanes and aerodynamics and Maria had to admit she was impressed.

When the pan was hot she added olive oil to it before droppng the mushrooms in it, fried them and then put them to the side again. She grabbed two jars of chopped tomatoes from the pantry and emptied them into the pan. She handed Anthony a wooden spoon and told him to stir.

”Gently, we don't want to get tomato all over the kitchen.”

He nodded, followed her instructions. She added the carrots, then the bell peppers and the tomatoes. The water started boiling and she added salt and pasta to it under Anthony's watchful eyes. She ruffled his hair.

”You'll be able to do this yourself next time.”

Basil, black pepper, garlic and salt were added to the sauce as well. Anthony kept stirring, occassionally stirred the pasta as well. Maria set the table while Anthony watched the food. She added the mushrooms to the sauce when it was almost done.

”You did good, bambino. You did very good.”

She kissed the top of Anthony's head, turned the stove off and moved the sauce to the table. She rinsed the pasta, put it in a bowl and added olive oil to it before stirring and putting it on the table as well. Anthony rushed off to get Howard and Maria smiled, looked at the food they had made. Pride filled her. Her son was extraordinary, he had done such a good job. Howard would be proud.

**Author's Note:**

> Spoiler: Howard was, naturally, not impressed by his son's work.


End file.
